citizen soldiers is the concept of democratic armies. we dont need SS killing machines, but men that stick to the ethic constraints of the societies they have to defend. That core criteria are a prerequesite for Just war and just and ethical warfare.

In modern warfare where the enemy is often embedded with the civil population (whether the latter like it or not), good relations with that population and the enhanced flow of tactical intelligence becomes a force multiplier. This demands that the soldier - and especially the airman -be highly selective in his targeting.

There is something everyone is forgetting and that is the we are not soldiers we have not been in combat such as the soldiers of ww2, some of them such as the germans were in the war for 5 years we have no right to judge were they should be or shouldn't be desensitied to killing. However you must also remember bomber crews during ww2 never realised how many people.(soldiers or cilivians) they really had killed until after. All they saw were figures. Take the atomic bomb 2 cities were wiped out, had they been desensitised to killing they would have gone insane. But also a soldier should also not be to willing to take anylife to quickly. It could be a child holding a stick. So I think that soldiers should never welcome killing nor hate it because that is what we is trained to do, and it is hard to control every man in every engagment . So yes and no is the answer. The soldier must understand that he is protecting many more by taking a life. But us with no traning whould never judge until experienced.

id have to say no...its not really possible i think. yes, you can become numb to it, but thats different. theres two ends too that spectrum as well. as a Marine, i saw it in many of the men i fought beside. on one end, some kill, and they never get over it, they become depressed and sad, and may take there whole lifes to crawl out of the hole they went into. some men will kill, and they get a kick out of it, even enjoying somtimes. thats the other end, and its sick, really, cause it will really ***** your head up forever. i never had to, so i dont know...but i pray for the men who have.

PS: its true in combat you dont really think about what youve done to the enemy until its all over and you and your men are safe... everything is split second stuff, no hesitating, ever.

An interestingly even split. There are arguments for both sides, so it is more about where any line should be drawn.
Killing is a desensitising experience. Ask almost any soldier who has been in lethal combat. The more killing you do, the more desensitised you become, as it is the antithesis of humanity.
My stance is that of the need for a 'professional' Military. The job of 'killing' is then dealt with as an objective and controlled function specifically related to the circumstances. While my pacifist 'ideals' abhor any killing, it is something that is necessary in a volatile and dangerous world, but it is a sanction that should only be available to a professional military.
Remember that our Military 'kills' on our behalf and with our sanction. It is therefore killing by proxy, but you are also culpable. You should not ask others to do something that you would not be prepared to do, so that should make you think carefully about the issue...

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